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My daughter is 6 and says she wants to be a vegitarian. I will always offer her the meat we are having, but she mostly turns it down. she will eat vegatalbes, salads and pasta. She isn’t good about taking her vitamins, and wont eat beans. I want to make sure she is getting everything in her diet. But I am not sure how?

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on Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
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I had a friend who’s child decided she wanted to be a vegetarian at a young age and she consulted her doctor because she felt this wasn’t healthy for her. The doctor advised her that it is perfectly fine, but to incorporate all the necessary nutrients. It’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor first.

I am a vegetarian and I was raised as one. It may take a little time to learn the tricks of cooking vegetarian meals, but it’s possible. There are a lot of companies that make vegetable protein products like Boca and Morning Star – which can be found in your local grocery store’s frozen section. You can use these products similar to meat products. Another good place to visit is a health food store like Whole Foods or Wild Oats. Seventh-Day Adventists are widely know for their vegetarian beliefs. If you live near a Seventh-Day Adventist organization like a church or hospital, they may have a store that sells a wide variety of protein products from companies like Worthington, you can check out vegefood.com for some locations.

It’s important to incorporate proteins in her diet, there are a lot of choices and there are a lot of delicious products. My husband eats meat and he eats several of the products I purchase.

I hope this helps you, it may take a little practice to get it down, but it’s possible.

You might try to get sneaky and puree some canned beans to add to other dishes. Try to keep the colors similar, though, so she won’t suspect anything. For instance, if you’re making mac and cheese, use white beans, not black beans. You could even do this with tofu, but you’d probably want to buy the silken variety if you puree it. You can also try a grain called Quinoa and use it in place of rice or barley in soups and other recipes. Quinoa is very rich in protein and is actually a complete protein, like meat. Morningstar farms makes some excellent meat substitutes that kids like, like chicken nuggets and corn dogs. And there’s always the good old staple of peanut butter and jelly. It may also be helpful to explain to her that she doesn’t have to eat meat to be healthy, but our bodies do need protein to grow and be stong, so she needs to eat certain things to get some protein in her diet. Other than that, the only thing you can really do is keep offering her alternatives until she picks up on it.

I think your dauter is being very wise, yet she isn’t seeing the effects on this. You should probably try to talk to her and tell her that your proud and are bing quite responsible about taking care of her body but at the same time, not taking it seriously. Tell her that there are positive sides to eating meat and protien like products. Don’t just tell her that they will make her big and strong, tell her what they do or how they effect or change her body to a healthier future. I for one, am a vegitarian( sort of.) I still eat fish, shrimp, low fat chicken( you can make low fat chicken by grilling it on the gill with barly any butter) and beans because I stilll need these products. I’m only 12 years old! I’m just trying to make a healthier generation step by step. If you would like to tell her a story about being healthy yet still being able to eat meats, tell her this one. I, Samantha Reif, was once just a forth grader, 10 years old, 5 foot 1 inch, and weighed 113 pounds. I decided it was time to change. I started to change the way I ate, how much I ate, and what I ate. By the end of December, all I ate was fruits and veggies. Not a single meat! By the end of the school year I weighed 85 pounds. Although, out through all of the summer, I didn’t feel very good or strong. I was very weak. People stated saying I was way to skinny for my height.So I started to eat plenty of protien products and by the end of summer I weighed 94 pounds at the height of 5,4″. I was so inshape that I was the healthiest person in my class. 12 girls and 13 boys. So from then on and still today, I am the healthiest girl in my class because all the girls in my class are so over weight because they wouldn’t take the advice that I gave them and some girls are way to skinny and don’ have any muscle unlike me. I hope this story incurages your daughter to eat protein products yet still eat vegetables and fruit. Don’t forget to excersise! If you would like to email me, my email address is TomBoy12@yahoo.com.

My daughter is 3 and has PKU, she has no other choice but to be somewhat vegetarian, she literally survives on fruits and vegetables and she doesnt seem to mind a bit. I’ve had people comment on how great she eats and by no means does she look starved. If your daughter wants to be one let her try it. Theres no harm and she might realize it easier not to be. Its very hard when we go places to figure out what my daughter can and cannot eat and more times theres a lot of nots.